One of the problems creating a garden is the possibility that one day you may end up leaving it. While you can soothe your sentimental disappointment knowing that it’s been a labour of love it can be quite heartbreaking to walk away from plants that you’ve spent years tending. And the likelihood that those plants may not enjoy the same TLC is ever on the mind of the gardener who’s leaving.
Yet leaving a garden is almost as much a part of life as starting one. Inevitably a gardener will walk away from a garden they’ve created leaving behind years – decades maybe – of dreams, sweat and even the odd tear.
So, how does one leave gracefully?
Many options present themselves to the departing gardener; they could dig up their favourite plants and repot them into containers, take a myriad of cuttings, overload their hard-drives with photos from every angle or merely soak in their remaining moments in the garden committing the sounds, smells and textures of each plant to a patchwork of memories.
Leaving a garden doesn’t have to be the end of the world. Consider it a new beginning if you will. While the plants and soil that you’ve laboured long and hard have given you great pleasure they’ve also educated you through a realm of solve problems that you may never have encountered elsewhere. The garden has apprenticed you for the next one.
So, while the departure from one garden signals the end of a chapter the book is still being written. The next chapter should be a continuation from the last but hopefully it takes you on an adventure that couldn’t be paralleled in your current landscape.
If you’ve had to leave a garden behind, how did you handle it? Are your new surroundings providing a better backdrop for your ideas and inspiration or you do you pine for the garden you once had?
